A College Student Spent 3 Weeks in Jail After a Field Test Said She
Was Carrying Drugs. She Filed a Lawsuit.

She was a freshman on an academic scholarship at Bryn Mawr College,
preparing to fly home to California for Christmas, sleep-deprived,
with questions from a calculus exam still racing through her head.

In the space of a few hours on Dec. 21, 2003, Janet Lee landed in a
Philadelphia jail cell, where she would remain for three weeks, held
on $500,000 bail and facing 20 years in prison on drug charges.

THE police started a massive marijuana eradication drive targeting
more than 100 cannabis plantations in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.

"We are embarking on a massive anti-marijuana drive with the foremost
idea of educating people on planting alternative crops that can
augment their livelihood," said Director Marcelo S. Ele, Jr.,
commander of the Philippine National Police Anti-Illegal Drugs Special
Operations Task Force.

Ele, in a report to PNP chief Director General Arturo C. Lomibao,
cited the possibility of planting Yakon, a medicinal rootcrop as an
alternative to marijuana.

More and more methamphetamine users are turning to identity theft as
a way to pay for their illicit drug habits, law enforcement officials say.

The problem has become so rampant in Riverside County that it "very
likely" helped boost the county to No. 2 on the Federal Trade
Commission's list of areas with the most incidents of identity
theft, according to Steven Counelis.

A Riverside County deputy district attorney, Counelis specializes in
prosecuting computer and technology crimes.

"My experience with the cases I've prosecuted leads me to believe
there is a strong anecdotal connection between meth abuse and
identity theft and that ranking," he said.

It would be convenient to think of crystal methamphetamine use as
just another moral panic, such as the one epitomized by the 1936 film
"Reefer Madness"--a cult classic for young pot smokers widely
recognized as a propaganda film documenting the "evils" of smoking marijuana.

A humorous footnote to an era of prohibition on pot, the film is no
longer considered an accurate depiction of the social scourge
marijuana was once pegged to be, although pot is still the first
priority of the ongoing war on drugs.

Banff Crag & Canyon -- Albertans will have to look behind the
pharmacists' counters from now on when purchasing decongestants such
as Sudafed.

The Alberta government took this action because the drugs, also known
as pseudoephedrines, are one of the main ingredients used in crystal
meth, an illegal street drug. Although there are many drugs
circulating around Banff, authorities say that crystal meth is not
one of the most prominently used drugs locally.